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From a Japanese bunny and observations of war, to frenetic installations and brilliant ceramics and jewellery, there was a feast for the eyes and mind at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, writes Aidan Dunne

JAPANESE ARTIST Atsushi Kaga has been based in Ireland for several years, during which time his work has developed on the basis of the distinctly Japanese penchant for cartoon characters. His drawings, paintings and animations centre on the misadventures of an alter ego in the shape of an introspective bunny rabbit who has a troubled relationship with his father and is beset by all manner of doubts and anxieties. His father, incidentally, is a panda rather than a rabbit, which may account for some of the miscommunication between the two. But then his mother is a kangaroo. Maybe it would be as well to bear in mind the theory that all art is self-portraiture of one kind or another.